Crime bestseller caught using sock puppets to trash colleagues and hymn his own 'magnificent' worK

Bestselling authors including Lee Child, Ian Rankin and Joanne Harris are queuing up to condemn the posting of reviews under false identities after it emerged this weekend that the award-winning crime writer RJ Ellory had been criticising his rivals and praising his own work under pseudonyms on Amazon.

Ellory, who won the Theakstons Old Peculier crime novel of the year prize in 2010 for his novel A Simple Act of Violence, was exposed by the crime writer Jeremy Duns on Twitter for posting reviews on Amazon under various identities. Under the pseudonym "Nicodemus Jones", Ellory called his own novel A Quiet Belief in Angels a "modern masterpiece" and said that readers should "just buy it, read it and make up your own mind", because "whatever else it might do, it will touch your soul". "All I will say is that there are paragraphs and chapters that just stopped me dead in my tracks," he wrote. "Some of it was chilling, some of it raced along, some of it was poetic and langorous and had to be read twice and three times to really appreciate the depth of the prose … it really is a magnificent book."

But "Nicodemus Jones" was less positive about some of his fellow novelists: Stuart MacBride was dismissed for his novel Dark Blood with one star, with the book described as "another in the seemingly endless parade of same-old-same-old police procedurals that seem to abound in the UK". Duns spotted that Ellory wrote the MacBride review under the pseudonym Nicodemus Jones, but later in the conversation began posting as RJ Ellory, in a continuation of the discussion. "Nicodemus Jones" also repeatedly signs himself as "Roger" in another discussion, in which he writes that "I won the Nouvel Observateur prize last year for AQBIA [A Quiet Belief in Angels]".

Mark Billingham was also slammed with a negative review from Nicodemus Jones, since removed, from one of Ellory's accounts. "It was just a very nasty one-star review, very snipey, saying I'd ripped off another writer and the book was just imitative," said Billingham.

Ellory has admitted posting the reviews on Amazon, and apologised for his actions, issuing a statement in which he said: "The recent reviews – both positive and negative – that have been posted on my Amazon accounts are my responsibility and my responsibility alone. I wholeheartedly regret the lapse of judgment that allowed personal opinions to be disseminated in this way and I would like to apologise to my readers and the writing community."

RJ Ellory: mysterious case of the crime writer who tried to change his life story

RJ Ellory, the bestselling British crime writer exposed for writing fake online reviews, has been banned from editing on Wikipedia after he was found to be deleting stories from his biography.

The Daily Telegraph can disclose that the 47 year-old was “permanently blocked” after attempting on more than a dozen occasions to remove negative stories on his posting on the internet using pseudonyms.

Volunteers from the online encyclopedia, which has more than 450 million users worldwide, became suspicious about his activity amid accusations it compromised the integrity of the profile.

Officials made the decision afterfinding that he had tried to delete stories from the profile as well as links to Telegraph.co.uk, and had breached its "self promotion" rules.

But the author, whose real name is Roger Jon Ellory, argued the coverage of his actions was “a significant matter of misrepresentation” and that stories had “blown [it] out of all proportion”.

The row came after Ellory, based in Birmingham, West Mids, was exposed over the so-called “sock puppeting” practice, in which people write fake online reviews.

The bestselling novelist was exposed for using pseudonyms to pen fake glowing reviews about his “magnificent genius” while simultaneously criticising his rivals.

Bestselling, award-winning crime author R.J. Ellory has been caught faking Amazon reviews for both his own books and the books of his competitors.

Ellory was caught writing the fake Amazon reviews by fellow author Jeremy Duns, according to ABC News. Such an act is dubbed “sock-puppeting,” or writing anonymous online reviews praising one’s own work.

Gawker posted the complete Twitter thread written by Duns, via Storify, in which the author describes the posts Ellory wrote about his own works.

“Ellory writes 5-star reviews of his own work on Amazon. Long, purple tributes to his own magnificent genius,” Duns tweeted. “RJ Ellory also writes shoddy, sh——y sniping reviews of others authors’ work on Amazon, under an assumed identity.”

Adding, “Prasing [sic] yourself is pathetic. Attacking other writers like this? I have no time for it, and have no time for anyone who defends it.”

Ellory posted one of the fake Amazon reviews under the pseudonym “Nicodemus Jones,” writing: “I don’t need to really say anything about the plot of this book. All I will say is that there are paragraphs and chapters that just stopped me dead in my tracks. Some of it was chilling, some of it raced along, some of it was poetic and langorous and had to be read twice and three times to really appreciate the depth of the prose...it really is a magnificent book. Ignore all dissentors and naysayers, this book is not trying to be anything other than a great story, brilliantly told. Just buy it, read it, and make up your own mind. Whatever else it might do, it will touch your soul.”

“Nicodemus Jones” also wrote a negative review about Stuart MacBride’s “Dark Blood.” It was in this review that Duns caught onto Ellory’s fraudulent reviews. He noticed that one particular Nicodemus Jones thread had postings by user “RJ Ellory,” according to the Guardian.

Bestselling, award-winning crime author R.J. Ellory has been caught faking Amazon reviews for both his own books and the books of his competitors.
Ellory was caught writing the fake Amazon reviews by fellow author Jeremy Duns, according to ABC News. Such an act is dubbed “sock-puppeting,” or writing anonymous online reviews praising one’s own work.

Gawker posted the complete Twitter thread written by Duns, via Storify, in which the author describes the posts Ellory wrote about his own works.
“Ellory writes 5-star reviews of his own work on Amazon. Long, purple tributes to his own magnificent genius,” Duns tweeted. “RJ Ellory also writes shoddy, sh——y sniping reviews of others authors’ work on Amazon, under an assumed identity.”

Adding, “Prasing [sic] yourself is pathetic. Attacking other writers like this? I have no time for it, and have no time for anyone who defends it.”

Ellory posted one of the fake Amazon reviews under the pseudonym “Nicodemus Jones,” writing: “I don’t need to really say anything about the plot of this book. All I will say is that there are paragraphs and chapters that just stopped me dead in my tracks. Some of it was chilling, some of it raced along, some of it was poetic and langorous and had to be read twice and three times to really appreciate the depth of the prose...it really is a magnificent book. Ignore all dissentors and naysayers, this book is not trying to be anything other than a great story, brilliantly told. Just buy it, read it, and make up your own mind. Whatever else it might do, it will touch your soul.”

“Nicodemus Jones” also wrote a negative review about Stuart MacBride’s “Dark Blood.” It was in this review that Duns caught onto Ellory’s fraudulent reviews. He noticed that one particular Nicodemus Jones thread had postings by user “RJ Ellory,” according to the Guardian.